


We Could Build A House

by Lucycupcake



Category: Avengers, avengers-all media types
Genre: After 'Avengers Assemble', M/M, Pre-Slash at the begining, Stony - Freeform, steve still loves the 40's
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-09-29
Updated: 2014-04-24
Packaged: 2017-11-15 06:30:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/524151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucycupcake/pseuds/Lucycupcake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve comes across a house which he decides to fix up, and enlists Tony for financial support. Turns out he also offers emotional support, under that metal mask of his.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The house in the Middle of Nowhere

It was anyone’s guess why he wanted this house. It looked like it was struggling to hold itself up, its blue paint peeling and the door hanging off its hinges. Only one window pane was still intact, the glass shattered but still clinging together. All in all, the place was a mess. Just another run down house, in the middle of the countryside, miles away from nowhere. It was nothing special. But for some reason it had caught the war hero’s eye. And now he wanted it for himself.

  
“You sure this is the house you want, Steve?” Tony asked, scraping his hands through his dark brown hair, gazing at the house before him. “It’s just… its miles away from the mansion…” Tony gulped. There was something unsettling about one of his team members being permanently situated away from the mansion, and the rest of the team. There was no telling what the delay in Captain America’s arrival could cause damage-wise, both to the team and to surrounding buildings, should there be an attack.

  
“I thoughts you were the master of tech, tony. Couldn’t you build something to get me from one place to the other?” The blonde smiled over at the shorter man, blue eyes taking in his features. He has come across the house on one of his aimless drives on his motorcycle, after r a mission that could have gone better.

  
Steve had informed the rest of the team that he was going to clear his head, and taken off into countryside. He had driven a few hours, before finally catching sight of the house, and changed course to go investigate. Being the old-fashioned artist that he was, he immediately fell in love with the place. There was something special about it. He took a quick photo with the stark phone tony had issued him with, and got off his cycle to further investigate.  
There was a For Sale sign in the front lawn, it had fallen into the ground and was being over taken with moss and climbers from the over grown garden. It was obvious that no one had been interested in buying the place, and was highly likely that the previous owner had given up trying to sell it. It was also possible that all property selling sites would have forgotten about the place. So, being the caring man that he was, Steve yanked the sign out of the ground, brushed off some of the moss, and stood it in the ground, upright, once more. After a moment’s thought, he fished his stark phone back out his pocket, and captured a picture of the sign as well. Maybe Tony would be able to find the owner with this.

  
He took a few steps towards the front door, which was hanging off its hinge, matching the overgrown porch. He trampled down the long grass and weeds, but did his best to keep to the path. The steps screeched under the weight of his footsteps as he climbed up the porch steps, trying to not be caught by the grabbing hands of foliage that was emerging from under the porch. Clearly, the garden had not been touched in a long time. He put his hand against the door and gently pushed, trying to completely break the door off its remaining hinge. Squeezing through the gap between the door and its frame, he made his was inside the house.

  
Looking past the obvious screen of damage and dirt that had been caused by neglect, the house was almost spectacular. Steve was greeted by a sweeping- yet, strangely modest- staircase, which curved its way up to the second floor, and ended on a balcony, so that the landing overlooked the entrance hall. Though, Steve didn’t think he’s bother risking his life trying to look upstairs, as he took in the sight of the condition of them. He’s Captain America. It would be ridiculous if he survived being frozen for 70 years, then died falling through some stairs that had been subjected to wood rot.  
There were three rooms on the ground floor. To Steve’s right, there was what must have been the living room, which took up the space of a quarter of the house, and had a fireplace up against the wall that was back to back with the stairs. The second room was to Steve’s left. It was slightly smaller than the living room and appeared to have no set purpose. Steve’s best guess was that it was a second living room or a study. Both of these rooms had large, slightly arched, windows that looked out onto the porch and the front of the house, and gave them enough natural light. The final room was the kitchen, which was straight down the hallway, and easily took up the entire back half of the house. It held a set of old cupboards, a rust old oven and a dust worktop. In one side of the kitchen there was a smaller room which had obviously been used as a pantry, and now held just cobwebs and spiders. Steve could see that there was space for a dining table and next to this was a pair of glass doors with cracked and grimy glass.

  
Succumbing to curiosity, the avenger made his was over to the doors. He pushed down on the handle and the door opened with a scrape from the lock. He stepped through onto the back porch and gazed at the view, ignoring the jungle of a back garden. If Steve had to pinpoint one thing that had he sold on this house, it was the view from the back porch. There was nothing but miles and miles of fields, as far as the eye could see, with the road snaking its way across the landscape. A cluster of tiny buildings sat along the horizon, next to a hill, which must have been the nearest hill. The fields were mostly crops, but they were dotted with random poppies and sunflowers. There was no sign of this being the future anywhere and Steve felt like he had gone back to the forties. Yes, he had to have this house.

  
He had made his way back through the house, carful to try and leave it how he found it, got back to his bike and took one last look. Although the house needed a lot of tender love and care, Steve only saw it as something for him to do. He wanted to make this house his, and preserve it to its original glory; He could maybe even live in it. He got back on the road, and back to his team mates.

  
After showing tony the pictures, and begging him to help him find the seller, he easily enlisted tony to help him with his I-want-to-look-after-this-house-like-it-was-my-child project. After an hour of internet searching, and a couple of phone calls, Tony had found the seller. They seemed surprised anyone was interested in the house and offered to just give it to Steve, but the avenger was honest and insisted he’d pay. Well, tony would pay. He owed him anyway.

  
That bought them to the present moment in time, the two men standing outside the house, having driven there in one of Tony’s cars.

  
“Well I guess I could hire a team to come and fix it up… then you could be moved in within a couple of months, or maybe weeks.” Tony ran his fingers through his beard and took in the sight of the broken windows and peeling paint. A team of people could get this place renovated within a month, surely. But it wouldn’t be cheap.

  
“Oh, no, that won’t be necessary,” Steve’s eyes sparkled. “I’m going to fix this place up myself.”

  
“You’re going to what?” Tony jumped back slightly, and stared wide eyed at Steve, exasperated.

  
“I thought it could be my own little project,” he beamed, and looked towards the house again. “You know, give me something to do… Stop me from thinking too much about the 70 years I’ve lost...” he trailed off, and started walking towards the house. Tony’s heart fell. So this was about the fact that Steve wouldn’t have to be reminded of the future, so he wouldn’t have to think about the date his missed with Peggy, or that his friend Bucky had died.

This was so Steve could forget.

  
He held up his palms in defeat, “Ok Steve, you got me. I’ll buy the house.” He watched as Steve fist pumped the air and leaped over to throw his arms around his neck.

  
“Thank you! I owe you one!” The taller man all but squealed in delight, squeezing the brunet hard enough to cut of his blood circulation.

  
“Easy there Capsicle!” He pushed out of the embrace and smiled, “Its fine. Let me know if you need anything… gardeners, decorators, builders, you name it!”

  
Steve raised an eyebrow, “Tony, I’m going to do this. I’m going to but this house through rehab and nurture it until it looks just like it would have done back in its heyday.” He spoke excitedly, whilst gesturing wildly towards the house, and staring at tony.

  
Tony raised his arms once more and surrended “Ok Cap, whatever you say,” he smirked and pulled down his sunglasses. “I’ll buy the house when we get back… I doubt they’ll be any competition to bid against.” He turned on his heel and began walking back to his Audi R8, and spoke over his shoulder, “You done here, Cap?”

  
Steve took one final look at the house before turning and following Tony. As they both got in the car, and Tony started the engine and began to drive, Steve stared out the window. He watched the house get smaller and smaller as they drove away; until it was just a small dot on the horizon. He then turned his attention to Tony, who had his eyes focused on the road and was drumming his fingers on the wheel in tune to the radio. Something in the pit of his stomach told him this house was going to change the both of them.


	2. Refurbish the Walls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Tony disagree on a lot of things. The brand of paint is just one of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait and the short chapter. I wasn't really sure where I was going with this chapter, and ended up rounding it off a bit early.

It all started with the rebuilding. Steve had decided that as he was restoring the house, rather than remodelling it, he would only rebuild so that the house would not fall in. This involved rebuilding one of the walls, completely rebuilding the stairs, retiling the roof, and general plastering and patching up the rest of the walls. Steve, of course, thought this would be no problem. Tony would argue otherwise.

The first time Steve went to the store to pick up building supplies, Tony insisted he accompany him. His reasoning was simply that if Steve was going to spend his money on rebuilding this house, He better damn well do it right; And there was no way in hell Tony would let him buy Store-Brand stuff that was not the highest quality. And so, they both got into one of Tony’s less flashy cars (Steve refused to let Happy drive them, and also refused to let Tony drive something that would make them stand out too much) and headed to the nearest hardware store. 

Once they had entered, Tony wandered over to the tools section and either laughed at tools inferior to his own, or messed around with others. Steve, having his mind set on his task of collecting supplies, headed straight to the bags of plaster. He picked up two of the bags that were the biggest (and cheapest for their size) and proceeded towards the paint. He chose the store-brand white in a big tub, and then wheeled his cart off to the wood. 

When he turned the corner into the aisle, the first thing his eyes saw was Tony Stark, stood in the centre of the aisle, his arms folded, hip cocked to the side, and tapping one foot. 

“What are those?” He sneered, casting an accusing look at the contents of the cart.

“Plaster and paint?” Steve raised his eyebrow.

“I know that, Cap!” Tony gestured wildly. “But what brand are they?” 

“Store Brand…. The best value?” He glanced at the cart, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Exactly.”

“What?”

“You don’t buy this crap.” He gestured to the bag of plaster, with a look of utter loathing set upon his face. “You buy the good stuff.” 

“But Tony-“ 

Before Steve could finish his sentence, Tony had pulled the cart from his grasp and was speeding away, back to the plaster and paint sections. He chased after him, towards the paint aisle, and watched him struggling to haul the big tub of paint back out the cart. He put his hand over Tony’s on the handle, and lifted the tub with ease, then placed it back on the shelf where he had found it.

He turned back to Tony, who now had a mysterious shade of pink tingeing his cheeks and was seemingly interested in his hand, and raised an eyebrow. “So, Mr I-Know-Everything-About-Building-Materials, what paint do I buy?” He chuckled.

Tony coughed into his fist and averted his eyes, looking at the row of paint. “Well it’s obvious…” He walked over to a tub that was roughly the same size as the previously rejected one, which was a higher price and had an actual brand name. “This one,” He pointed at it, with an expression of How-Could-You-Be-So-Stupid manipulating his face.

“And why is this one,” Steve cast his gaze towards the paint that Tony had pointed out. “any better than this one?” He gestured towards the first tub of paint he had picked out, raising an eyebrow. 

Tony sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes. “Isn’t it obvious? I thought it was. But apparently not.” He said, in a way that made him sound like he was talking to a child, and not The Star Spangled Man with a Plan.

Steve crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows higher. “Tony.” And my using just the other man’s name, him managed to get his message- Just friggin’ explain to me, I haven’t got all day- across.

The playboy straightened up, folded his arms behind his back, and began to pace in front of the paint, in a business-like manner. He paused and put one finger in the air and opened his mouth, as though he was about to speak. He then closed he mouth and resumed his pacing. Steve crossed his arms and tapped his foot. He was just about the punch the Iron Man in the face for being so irritating, when Tony finally spoke.

“Steve, It’s a brand name. That means that a lot more work has gone into getting this paint right, than there has into that one. Because it’s a brand name you can trust it to be good. Are we clear?”

“That’s ridicu-

Tony claimed his hand over Steve’s mouth and furrowed is eyebrows.” I said, are we clear, Steve?”

Putting both arms up in defeat, Steve sighed and nodded. He pulled away and picked up the tub of paint that didn’t offend Tony, and placed it in his cart. He looked over to Tony, who had a smug smile playing at the corners of his lips. “Well,” He smirked. “Aren’t you going to show me which plaster and other ‘brand name’,” He waved his arms around his head as though mocking the words, “supplies we need?”

Tony Beamed “Of Course, Cap.” 

They both grabbed hold of the cart’s handle and together they pushed it, wheeling it down the aisle, further into the store.


	3. Dinner and a Movie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So I finally got off my butt and finished this chapter. Sorry, I'm a terrible person.

After a few weeks, you could hardly tell that the house had been abandoned for so long. A coat of blue paint breathed life into the exterior, while a lawnmower tracks were left as reminders or the battler with the jungle which had so long ago been a garden, and was no at last being restored.

Although passers-by was a rare occurrence, when anyone did travel past, they would always see a strong looking blond man, who look strangely like captain America, working on the place. And just as often, they would see a sports-car parked outside, and a man who looked exactly like Tony Stark helping him.

“Well, the whole of the first floor is re-plastered. That leaves the upstairs. But the stairs are the problem.”

“C’mon Tony, they’re not that bad. We could still fix them ourselves?”

Tony furrowed his brows and crossed his arms. “Steve, be real. The wood rot is so bad, when I placed the paint can on one of them it broke through.”

The blond sighed but smiled none the less. “Fine. Point taken. Who you gonna call?”

“Ghost busters!” Tony laughed, and then stopped at the sight of Steve’s slightly confused smile. “I’ll show you that movie some time” he flushed slightly. He forgot that Steve still wasn’t quite down with pop culture references.

“I’ll hold you to that.” He climbed down from the stepladder, and walked towards the doorway, which Tony was leaning against. “This is the only thing I’m allowing you to get professionals to do, Tony. The rest I’m doing by myself.”

“Oh, so you don’t want my help?” The dark haired man smirked, his eyes twinkling. Of course Steve wanted his help, how would he have got so much done without him?

“You know what I mean” he patted Tony’s shoulder, giving him a warm smile. “I couldn’t do this alone…” as he trailed off, his gaze fell, his arm following shortly after. It was clear the cracks in Steve were still mending, even if he was a little less broken. And Tony had vowed to himself to fix him.

The ex-play boy (After joining the Avengers, his old life style seemed to disappear) cleared his throat, “Well, I have connections… I could probably have someone in tomorrow to have a look, and we can go from there.”

Steve finally looked up. “Thanks, Tony.”

“No problem, Cap.” He smiled. Then, suddenly having an idea to cheer up steve, he snapped his fingers, “Hey! In the meantime, how about we order a pizza back at the tower?”

The super soldier smiled, “And a movie?”

“Yeah! We could watch Ghostbusters!” he beamed.

Steve smiled back, but then frowned slightly. “But the rest of the team are out?”

“So? It’ll be just us then. We’ll celebrate how far we’ve gotten with the house!” Tony clasped Steve’s shoulder. For some reason he was glad it was just him and Steve spending the night together. “C’mon, it’ll be fun!”

“Oh, alright” His smile returned, and he allowed himself to be steered out the door. “Wait, I need to lock up!” He turned around, locking the door and placing the keys back in his pocket. When he turned back, he noticed there was a splatter of white paint on Tony’s cheek. He chuckled lightly and licked his thumb. “Come here Tony,” grabbing the brunette’s face with his other hand, he used his thumb to rub the paint off. “How did you manage that?”

“I..I don’t know..” Tony stuttered quietly, as the colour rushed up his neck, turning his face rosy and his ears scarlet.

When the paint had gone, he let him go, chuckling to himself, and continued the walk to the car. Tony stayed rooted to the spot for a second, staring blankly at Steve, before finally shaking himself back, and walking quickly to catch up with the other man. It was like his mind was still processing what just happened, which was a new sensation to the super genius. As he got into the car, and looked towards his friend, he pushed all troubling thoughts to the back of his mind, smiled, and got ready to drive.

\--

They spent the majority of the film talking. Steve had gained no new knowledge on Ghostbusters, but knew that this pizza was delicious and that Tony could squirt water out his nose. They had spent the entire film laughing and talking so loud that they didn’t realise when the credits started rolling. It wasn’t until Tony reached for another French fry that he noticed the screen had gone blank.

“What? It’s finished already?”

“It finished approximately 4 minutes ago, sir.” Came the slightly robotic tone of Jarvis’ voice.

Tony gave Steve an apologetic look, “Sorry, I completely distracted you from the film. We could watch it again it you want?” He shifted slightly on the couch.

Steve flushed, “No it’s fine, honestly! I still had fun.” He scratched his neck nervously and glanced at the messy coffee table. “I’ll clear this mess up.” He stood and reached over for the empty pizza box.

Tony stood up as well, “No let me-“

The both froze and looked down at their hands. Tony’s hand was clutching Steve’s hand which held the pizza box. He blushed and pulled away, reaching for the empty glasses instead mumbling an apology.

“It’s fine, Tony.” Steve smiled to himself.

An awkward silence passed over them as they walked side by side to the kitchen. Steve put the box in the trash and Tony put the glasses in the sink. Then they turned to each other and stared awkwardly.

Steve cleared his throat, “Tony… Thanks. I had fun tonight.” He smiled and he could feel his ears burning. “I guess I’m gonna head to bed now.”

“Alright, Cap. And you’re welcome. I had fun too.” He smiled in return. “Well, good night.”

“Night, Tony” As he turned to leave the kitchen, Tony’s eyes followed him.

 Once Steve was out of sight, a relieved breathes escaped Tony. He moved to the sink and splashed his face with cold water.

“What are you thinking, Stark?” He muttered. “He doesn’t like you like that and he never will”


End file.
